Chapter 9: The Price Exploded
"In recent days, reports have emerged across various regions of creatures growing larger in size and becoming increasingly aggressive. Citizens are urged to remain vigilant. Preliminary speculation points to the leak of an unapproved experimental drug..."
Click.
Chen Sui turned off the television. The screen flickered out with a snap, cutting off the anchor mid-sentence.
He liked to catch the news over breakfast.
He wiped his mouth, cleared the empty dishes and bowls from the table into the kitchen, then returned to his room, put on his gaming headset, and logged into the game.
As the game visuals synced with his consciousness, Chen Sui found himself beneath a vast, crystal-clear blue sky.
It was still morning in-game, but he could already spot quite a few bleary-eyed players wandering about — clearly the type who had pulled an all-nighter grinding away.
Chen Sui glanced around. It seemed the fishing village had gotten some rain last night; the ground was still damp, and the air carried an even heavier, briny smell.
He didn't dwell on it and headed straight out of the village.
"Let's keep farming Red-Mantled Tide Crabs today, but I won't be putting them in the fish tank for now — whatever drops, I'll list directly on the trading market."
He summoned the Fishfolk Wavecrest. Today, Wavecrest carried an even fiercer, more menacing air than before — gripping a black-armored spear in one hand, he cut quite an imposing figure.
When he saw Chen Sui, his face remained as expressionless as ever.
[Fishfolk]
Quality: Superior
Talent: Brute Force
Level: Wavecrest Rank, Tier 5
"You leveled up — was it from fighting that crab yesterday?"
Chen Sui noticed that Wavecrest's level had increased.
The leveling mechanic in this world was fairly hardcore.
Fighting powerful monsters — win or lose, as long as you fought, you'd grow stronger. Consuming rare natural treasures was another way.
But grinding weak monsters, the kind you could one-shot all day long, would leave you stuck in place forever.
"Alright," Chen Sui said, "looks like you're in good shape. Let's grind more today and see if we can pull another good crab."
Wavecrest gave no response whatsoever. He simply swung his spear through the air, sending a sharp whistle cutting through the wind.
Wherever the spear tip passed, Red-Mantled Tide Crabs were sent flying in all directions.
There were noticeably more players today — a wave of studio workers and grinders had poured in.
Chen Sui wasn't surprised.
As Azure's reputation spread and the high-priced pets listed on the trading market went viral, more and more people would learn just how profitable this game was. On top of that, it had only just entered open beta — now was naturally a great time to jump in. New players were expected, and it was easy to foresee that even more would keep coming.
Chen Sui paid them no mind. He found a quiet corner to grind on his own, and whenever someone showed up, he simply moved elsewhere.
The island where the fishing village was located was enormous, and not every new player had chosen it as their starting point anyway.
So there was always somewhere secluded to be found.
The day passed uneventfully.
Not entirely without reward, though.
Over the course of the entire day, a total of 87 eggs dropped.
But out of those 87 eggs, only one crab with a good talent hatched.
[Red-Mantled Tide Crab]
Quality: Common
Talent: Iron Armor (Defense +40%)
A Red-Mantled Tide Crab with an exceptional natural defense — perhaps related to its nutritional intake during its early growth stage...
Chen Sui had of course done his research on Azure's market. A Red-Mantled Tide Crab like this was a perfect early-game pioneer pet — it would absolutely sell.
After all, for an ordinary player to catch a crab like this on their own would be an extraordinary feat.
Without a second thought, Chen Sui listed it on the trading market.
"Hey~ let's be a little greedy this time — set up a 12-hour auction, highest bidder wins."
He set the timer, set the starting price at 100 yuan, then closed the trading market panel and went back to grinding.
By the time he checked the clock, it was already evening again. Chen Sui couldn't even be bothered to walk back to the fishing village — he just logged off right where he was.
What Chen Sui didn't know, however, was that the Red-Mantled Tide Crab he had listed on the trading market had sent major studios and gaming companies into an absolute frenzy.
Qihai Studio.
Zhang Yuhao logged off in a fury, cursing under his breath. "Damn it, I couldn't find that little punk!"
He had rallied a group of his guys to scour the fishing village all night long, but after an entire evening of searching, they hadn't found a trace of Chen Sui. He was left stewing in a helpless, directionless rage.
"Brother Hao!"
Someone called out from across the studio.
"What is it?"
"There's a crab on the trading market with a 40% defense boost! It's up for auction right now — only at thirty-something thousand. Should we bid?"
"What?!"
Zhang Yuhao leapt to his feet in shock, as if his chair had caught fire, and bolted over. "Bid on it — no matter what!"
Quanhe City.
Azure Sea Residence.
A girl dressed in expensive designer clothes clung to a young man's arm and shook it pleadingly. "Bro~ come on, just buy it for me. It's just a little crab for a few tens of thousands — that's nothing."
The young man gave her a helpless look. "Dad just cut off your allowance, and you're already out of money?"
"Hmph. That old man's just afraid I'll run off somewhere. But bro~ I know you're the one who cares about me most. You'll buy it for me, right?"
"Fine, fine, fine. But this is the last time."
Yunsheng City.
At Mighty Squirrel, a top-tier gaming company, the planning manager was slamming his fist on the desk.
"Who is this 'mlgbfirst'?! They even picked an English name — so hard to say! Why didn't they just set a buy-it-now price instead of doing an auction?! Everyone get on this — we need to win that bid. If we can't, find a way to contact them directly, get them to delist it and sell it to us. Tell them to name their price."
Qianyang City.
At Tianxing Real Estate Company, a middle-aged man sat at his office desk, staring at the Red-Mantled Tide Crab on his screen. Silently, he typed the number 100,000 into the price field.
* * *
Early the next morning, the net was hauled in.
Chen Sui stretched himself awake. Just like every other morning, he first went to check on his fish tank — and finding nothing new there, he picked up his phone and opened the trading market to see how much he'd made the night before.
The moment the trading market loaded, the string of zeros made his eyes go wide.
"Ten thousand... wait, no — a hundred thousand!"
After deducting the ten percent transaction fee, ninety thousand yuan had landed in his account. The bank notification that buzzed in moments later confirmed it beyond any doubt.
Chen Sui stared at the deposit notification, his mind completely blank. He had expected it to sell for a good price — but not this good.
A hundred thousand yuan. Even if it were just in-game coins... you'd still blink twice, wouldn't you?
After a long moment, Chen Sui finally managed to accept the reality. His mouth had stretched into a grin he couldn't contain. He was just an ordinary guy — making this much money all at once made him feel like the sky should split open and strike him with lightning just to balance things out.
"I didn't think making money could be this easy. This is basically two years of my salary."
Right now, there simply weren't any Red-Mantled Tide Crabs like this on the market, which was why it had fetched such a price. Plus, with the game barely out of open beta, a quality pet was truly worth its weight in gold.
"Still... spending that much on a single pet is honestly beyond my imagination. Could there be others out there who already know just how extraordinary this game is?"
With that thought, Chen Sui quickly opened a shopping website.
Money was meant to be spent — you couldn't take it with you when you died.
Just then, his phone buzzed with several private message notifications in the background.
"Hm? Private messages?"
He opened the first one. It was from a gaming company called Mighty Squirrel. Chen Sui knew the name — they had originally developed simulation and management-style virtual games and were fairly well known in the industry. Only in recent years had they pivoted toward fantasy-adventure and combat-style virtual games.
The message had the confident tone of a major company:
"Hello. We'd like to know if you'd be interested in selling the Red-Mantled Tide Crab you listed on the trading market through a private transaction. We can offer a higher price — name your terms. We'd bypass the trading market to avoid the transaction fee."
Chen Sui glanced at the timestamp. 2:30 in the morning. His expression turned a little strange.
These people... were absolute grinders.
Still, he typed back a reply:
"Sorry, I just woke up and missed your message. That crab has already been sold. Hope we can do business again next time."
And then...
The other side went silent.
Chen Sui didn't think much of it and went about his day.
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Edited by Fat Goose